Our Story

Business ideas often come in the strangest of places, and for DUC that strange place was on a motorbike in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Both founders Anne-Marie and Ian were over in HCMC in 2016. Anne-Marie was carrying out a volunteering stint with the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation (CNCF) and had brought over some money from a fundraiser. The money was spent buying school kits for children who couldn’t afford the essentials to go to school. Ian was doing factory visits for work and happened to come across a backpack factory where he was approached to sell backpacks. Anne-Marie and Ian got talking and came up with an idea. What if a backpack company was created that offered a sustainable supply of resources to CNCF while also creating a business? This could be done by donating a school kit to CNCF with the sale of each backpack. We wanted a meaningful name for the company. The Vietnamese word for education is giáo dục. We played off this word and decided on the name DUC, pronounced like duck. As of 2019 DUC is now partnered with Laura Lynn Ireland’s Children’s Hospice and donates 15% of every sale of their Jr bags to the hospice. In 2020 we launched our Eco polyester collection which is made entirely from recycled plastic including single use plastic bottles. Yes you can make backpacks from coke bottles!